Gathering unto eternity

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ไธญๆ–‡

๐ด๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘› ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ฆ ๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘–๐‘™๐‘™๐‘’๐‘‘, ๐ป๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐ป๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘๐‘–๐‘๐‘™๐‘’๐‘ , ๐บ๐‘Ž๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘˜๐‘’๐‘› ๐‘๐‘–๐‘’๐‘๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘™๐‘’๐‘“๐‘ก ๐‘œ๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘ฆ ๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘ก. / ๐‘†๐‘œ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘ฆ ๐‘”๐‘Ž๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘š ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘“๐‘–๐‘™๐‘™๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘ก๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘™๐‘ฃ๐‘’ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘˜๐‘’๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘กโ„Ž ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘˜๐‘’๐‘› ๐‘๐‘–๐‘’๐‘๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘“๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘š ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘–๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘™๐‘’๐‘ฆ ๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘Ž๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘โ„Ž ๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘™๐‘’๐‘“๐‘ก ๐‘œ๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘Ž๐‘š๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘’ ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘œ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘‘ ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘›. (John 6:12-13)

Many believers love to read John 6 because of the miracle Jesus performed to feed the crowds. But actually, ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐š๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐œ๐ก ๐š๐›๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐œ๐ข๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ โ€” ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐จ๐ง๐ž๐ฌ โ€” ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐‹๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐‡๐ข๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐Ÿ ๐š๐ฌ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐š๐›๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ก๐ฎ๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž. This section of the Bible gives us a picture of the true gospel, and the process by which both we and the crowds can be satisfied not just by outward miracles, but by eternal life. If we want to have true outreach and gain eternal fruit, we cannot forgo this very process the Lord revealed to His disciples and to us.

โถ ๐…๐ข๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ, ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐ฐ๐ž ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐๐ž๐š๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฒ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ฅ๐จ๐จ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐  ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ. In the beginning of this chapter, the Lord โ€œwent away across the Sea of Galileeโ€ and โ€œa great crowd followed Himโ€ because they witnessed physical signs (v. 1-2); what they knew, what they perceived and what they sought was not necessarily the Lord Himself, but the wonders He performed. And what did the Lord do? In verse 3, โ€œJesus went up to the mountain and sat there with His disciples.โ€ For some reason, throughout His time on the earth, the Lord Jesus never stayed with the crowd, or with the majority. Instead, the Lord chose to go up, making the effort to climb up to higher ground to just โ€œsit thereโ€ with his disciples. This already indicates that the Lord was looking for something beyond just the earthly realm.

โท ๐’๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ง๐, ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ง๐ž๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐›๐ž ๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ž ๐ฐ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ž ๐š๐ซ๐ž, ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž, ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ž ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐œ๐ž๐š๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ , ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐œ๐š๐ฅ๐œ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐š๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ž ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐จ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐‹๐จ๐ซ๐. โ€œJesus then lifting up His eyes and seeing that a great crowd was coming toward Him, said to Philip, โ€˜Where shall we buy bread that these may eat?โ€™โ€ (v. 5). The Lord was testing Philip, even though โ€œHe Himself knew what He was about to doโ€ (v. 6). The question the Lord asked Philip was seemingly very physical. And Philip answered in a very calculating way: โ€œTwo hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them that each one may take a littleโ€ (v. 7). Where did this two hundred denarii come from? The Bible doesnโ€™t tell us, but Philip was very clear on the amount of money and quickly made the judgment that what they had was not enough. How often do we do this? ๐–๐ก๐ž๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐‹๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐š ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง, ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ง๐ž๐ž๐ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐š ๐ ๐ž๐ง๐ž๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ข๐ง ๐ก๐ฎ๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ซ, ๐จ๐Ÿ๐ญ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐›๐ž๐ฒ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐œ๐š๐ฉ๐š๐œ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ. How can the church in Toledo feed the whole world? We calculate, and before we even do it, we already give up, knowing it is too much for us. But the Lord already โ€œknew what He was about to do.โ€

Then, following Philipโ€™s failure, Andrew comes in to โ€œhelpโ€: โ€œOne of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, There is a little boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are these for so many?โ€ (v. 8-9). It is interesting that the Bible specifically designates him as Simon Peterโ€™s brother, reminiscent of Peterโ€™s own calculations and failures. A little boy, without name, comes along with five barley loaves and two fish. But in the same way as Philip, Andrew only sees the great need and his own little capacity: โ€œ…but what are these for so many?โ€

We are always calculating. We might think we are poor because we never go through the Lordโ€™s hands. We might think something is impossible because we never trust what the Lord asks us to do. The Lord speaks to us, yet we respond with complicated reasoning. When the Lord asks us something, we immediately throw out a standard, religious answer as an excuse. This is the significance of the two hundred denarii and the disciplesโ€™ reasonings.

โธ ๐€๐Ÿ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐›๐ž๐ž๐ง ๐ž๐ฑ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ฑ๐ก๐š๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐Ÿ-๐ž๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ, ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐›๐ž ๐ข๐ง ๐š ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐š๐œ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ ๐ซ๐ž๐ž๐ง ๐ ๐ซ๐š๐ฌ๐ฌ โ€” ๐š๐ง ๐ž๐ง๐ฏ๐ข๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐ข๐ง ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐œ๐ก ๐ฉ๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ž. โ€œJesus said, โ€˜Have the people recline.โ€™ Now there was much grass in the place. So the men reclined, in number about five thousandโ€ (v. 10). The reclining is related to the grass โ€” the โ€œmuch grass.โ€ Actually, He is the one asking us to recline, and He is the place of much grass; He is our rest. This situation took place around the time of the festival of Passover (v. 4), when, according to Jewish law, you should be preparing and eating the unleavened bread, the lamb and the bitter herbs. But here, the Lord is not concerned with the work of the law, but is simply looking for a place that has much grass โ€” a place to recline. Actually, the grass appears throughout the Bible as a very specific place of reclining and satisfaction: Davidโ€™s song in Psalm 23 shows us that the Lord put us on green pastures to enjoy Him as the rich supply, and in John 10, Jesus tells us that He is our Shepherd and our door to find pasture. The grass is a very specific condition needed for the people to be released from the sheepfold โ€” the law โ€” to the open pastures โ€” to Him as our rest. Worldly people are often in a very different stage of their life; if they are not reclining โ€” not hungry โ€” thereโ€™s no way for the Lord to come in to feed them. But to those who are hungry โ€” who are reclining โ€” it is a blessing.

โน ๐“๐ก๐ž๐ง, ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ก๐ฎ๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ง๐ž๐ฌ ๐ง๐ž๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐š๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐๐ข๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐‹๐จ๐ซ๐โ€™๐ฌ ๐ก๐š๐ง๐๐ฌ. โ€œJesus then took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed to those who were reclining; likewise also of the fish, as much as they wantedโ€ (v. 11). Phillip had failed and Andrew had failed. And yet โ€œthe Lord took the loavesโ€! โ€œLikewise also of the fishโ€! The Lord Himself distributed the loaves and fish in a very specific manner. The crowds needed to taste something through the Lordโ€™s hands. Sometimes, when we are in a low condition, we might think we are a nobody brother or sister; we only have two fish and five loaves. How could we feed so many people? But then the Lord takes the bread and the fish and sanctifies it. Other times, when we feel good, we may say, โ€œLord, I can offer something to you.โ€ But that offering still has to go through the Lord. ๐–๐ก๐ž๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐‹๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ง๐ค๐ฌ, ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐›๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ฌ๐ก ๐›๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž ๐ฌ๐š๐ง๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ข๐ž๐ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ง ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ข๐œ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐ญ. We could never imagine that five loaves and two fish could feed five thousand people. Yet it is a mystery! ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐œ๐ก๐ฎ๐ซ๐œ๐ก ๐ฅ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ž ๐ข๐ฌ ๐š ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ ๐›๐ž๐œ๐š๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ž๐๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ก๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ข๐œ๐š๐ฅ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐จ๐. ๐ˆ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐œ๐ก๐ฎ๐ซ๐œ๐ก ๐ฅ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ž, ๐ฉ๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐›๐ž ๐ฌ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ฌ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ž๐ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐›๐ž ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐ง๐ฌ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ž๐ ๐›๐ž๐œ๐š๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž, ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž, ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ก๐ž๐ฅ๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž ๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐ž๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐‹๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ข๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฒ, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐‹๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ง๐ค๐ฌ, ๐ฌ๐š๐ง๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐š๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ-๐ฌ๐ฎ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ข๐œ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐Ž๐ง๐ž.

Then, in between this verse and the next verse, very little is said about the actual miracle. Suddenly, the crowds were filled!

โบ ๐…๐ข๐ง๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ, ๐ฐ๐ž ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ง๐ž๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ ๐š๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ๐š๐ข๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ โ€” ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐š๐›๐ฎ๐ง๐๐š๐ง๐œ๐ž. โ€œAnd when they were filled, He said to His disciples, Gather the broken pieces left over that nothing may be lostโ€ (v. 12). What a peculiar thing for the Lord to ask of His disciples! It doesnโ€™t say why we need to pick up the broken pieces, or that the disciples are to eat the broken pieces, or that the broken pieces are for a specific purpose โ€” that He is hungry or that the disciples still need to eat โ€” or even what they did with them or where they took them. What do we do with baskets full of broken, leftover food from other people? He doesnโ€™t say. It is mysterious!

If we look at the process of gathering, however, we can see that ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ข๐ฌ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐š๐›๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐จ๐ง๐ž๐ฌ. Thereโ€™s a detailed record here of instructions the Lord gave to the disciples: gather the leftover, broken pieces that nothing may be lost. Oftentimes we want to complete a great mission for the Lord, but despise the detailed, very specific instructions the Lord gives; we despise the โ€œbroken piecesโ€ โ€” the leftovers. This is a very specific interaction the Lord had with his disciples, not with the crowd. Collecting the twelve baskets was a training to the disciples to see something that the Lord did โ€” not through physical calculations, but in the very process the disciples themselves went through. What an intricate process for the serving ones. We see this in our life of serving, too, when the Lord asks us not just to labor on a physical task, but to thoroughly collect anything left over from the ones being served as our own portion from Him. That is how we pick up all the broken pieces, making sure nothing is lost.

โ€œSo they gathered themโ€ (v. 13). This short sentence holds another key: after a major work is done or a miracle is performed, we need to listen to what the Lord wants us to do. Sometimes, we just donโ€™t listen. We hear Him, but we donโ€™t follow His exact instructions. But when the disciples followed through with the Lordโ€™s speaking, they โ€œfilled twelve handbasketsโ€! From a meager five loaves and two fish came enough to feed five thousand people with twelve baskets left over. What an abundance for the disciples to gather and enjoy! What a bountiful harvest from othersโ€™ leftovers!

Why exactly twelve baskets? In the Bible, twelve is the number of eternity. ๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐œ๐ข๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ข๐œ๐ค๐ž๐ ๐ฎ๐ฉ โ€” ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ฉ๐ข๐œ๐ค ๐ฎ๐ฉ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐œ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐  โ€” ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐จ๐๐š๐ฒ; ๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ž๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐š๐ฅ, ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ž๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ก ๐ง๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฉ๐ก๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ข๐œ๐š๐ฅ ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐›๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐ข๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ข๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ฅ๐ฆ. What a beautiful understanding that what we do today is not before man in the physical realm, but before our Lord in the spiritual realm. He has fed the five thousand people, and all that is left for us to do is to gather twelve baskets full. The leftovers, the memories and experiences of life that constitute and fill His serving ones, are what will be gathered unto eternity. Furthermore, the Bible specifically mentions the gathering of the pieces from the barley loaves, but not from the fish, which signify redemption. In the Jewish land, barley is the first to be harvested, typifying the resurrected Christ. Barley has no mixture โ€” only this very pure, undefiled, regenerated life. Whatโ€™s left over from the true serving is this eternal life, not anything earthly in nature.

๐€๐Ÿ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐ฐ๐ž ๐๐จ ๐š๐ง๐ฒ ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ซ ๐›๐ข๐  โ€œ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค,โ€ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐š๐ง๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ค ๐ฐ๐ž ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐ , ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐š๐ฌ๐ค ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ž๐ฌ, โ€œ๐–๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐ž๐Ÿ๐ญ ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ?โ€ ๐“๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐š ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐œ๐ก๐ž๐œ๐ค. The leftovers are from other people’s eating, so unless we go out to feed, there are no leftovers and there is no need for any baskets. But even if we present the best serving, at the end, did we go out to pick up the pieces? Did we do what the Lord asked us to do? If we didnโ€™t, then even if there is physical โ€œfruit,โ€ there will be no eternal fruit. That is what kills us: we do everything, but when the Lord tells us to go out to gather the broken, leftover pieces, we think we know better and think the work has already been completed. How tragic it will be if we come to the end of the year and we realize our basket is empty. In other words, we are empty. We are coming to the point in our church life that we are insisting that we cannot just do the physical works without following through to the end of that mysterious gathering process. That is the most important piece that the Lord gives. He doesnโ€™t give us explanation, because it is not a matter of what was physically done or the method for how it was done, but rather a matter of eternal life. And when we obey Him, we find we have twelve baskets full unto eternity.

๐–๐ก๐ž๐ง ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐ž, ๐๐จ ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ฉ๐ข๐œ๐ค ๐ฎ๐ฉ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฌ๐ž ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐ž๐Ÿ๐ญ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ? ๐Ž๐ซ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ž ๐จ๐ง๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฉ๐ก๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ข๐œ๐š๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ? ๐€๐ซ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ฅ๐จ๐จ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐  ๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ ๐ก๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ซ๐ž๐ ๐๐ž๐ง๐š๐ซ๐ข๐ข ๐จ๐ซ ๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ž๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐š๐ฅ? One day, our physical world will all disappear; Paul says that our outer man is decaying. But Paul also says that our inner man is being renewed day by day (2 Cor. 4:16)! Our church life has the physical aspect, but even the physical things are not unto the physical world. Ultimately, what remains from our physical life is only the eternal. The remainders are recorded in our eternal memory; there is a recording machine deep inside that will never decay even if our bodies get sick or old. Human beings are very mysterious. When we go through our day, we have to faithfully pick up the leftover pieces; otherwise, why do we go through this earthen living that will perish? We will never forget those moments when we truly engage our life and the people around us with a genuine being, partaking of Him and His supply as our outreach on this earth.

When the physical things are gone, we should have something already picked and gathered, nothing lost. We go through our life today โ€” the church life โ€” today and experience a lot of suffering. But the Lord insists that โ€œnothing may be lost.โ€ Today, we are in the field and have been broken by the world. We are sinful. But the Lord says, โ€œIt is okay. Pick up the pieces, and gather. I ask you to gather these broken pieces for a reason.โ€ On the Day of Tabernacles, we will go out to gather the baskets โ€” the real, eternal baskets โ€” and deposit their contents into the eternal storage house. And that overflow from our earthen leftovers โ€” those small pieces โ€” will feed us forever.

Today, we are in the middle of the Lordโ€™s basket. What He is asking of us is beyond our capacity. Our scope needs to be changed. Our concept of the gospel needs to be changed. In many perspectives, we are small, calculating, and unbelieving. We donโ€™t have a resolution to feed five thousand. Our scope is a measly two hundred denarii or a few loaves and fish. But ๐ฐ๐ก๐ž๐ง ๐ฐ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐‹๐จ๐ซ๐โ€™๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐š๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ, ๐ฐ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ โ€œ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐คโ€ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐จ, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฒ๐ž๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ž๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐จ ๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ๐ ๐ž๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ, ๐ž๐ง๐ฃ๐จ๐ฒ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ž ๐ฌ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ฌ๐Ÿ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง. If we put ourselves into the Lordโ€™s hand and let the Lord bless us, imagine what He can do and supply! If we trust the Lord, why are we barren? The Lord always makes a way for those who are willing to follow His instructions so that He is able to give us the fullness โ€” the overflow unto eternal memory. No one else can gather for us; the basket has to be ours. In reality, ๐ฐ๐ž ๐’‚๐’“๐’† ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐›๐š๐ฌ๐ค๐ž๐ญ๐ฌ! ๐–๐ž ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐จ๐ง๐ž๐ฌ ๐ก๐จ๐ฅ๐๐ข๐ง๐  ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฌ๐ž ๐ฉ๐ข๐ž๐œ๐ž๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ž๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ! Thatโ€™s how powerful we can be. Thatโ€™s our gospel…we are the gospel!

(๐ด๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘“๐‘’๐‘™๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ค๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘˜๐‘’๐‘› ๐‘“๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘š ๐‘Ž ๐‘”๐‘Ž๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘œ๐‘› 12/18/2020, ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘๐‘ฆ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘˜๐‘’๐‘Ÿ.)

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